"So in the half-light of a hazy winter morning, bleary-eyed after the sleepless overnight train ride from our home in Bangkok to Vientiane, my wife, our five-year-old son, and I crossed the Mekong into Laos on a clattering railway carriage. Aside from a single hotel reservation in Luang Prabang, Laos's former royal capital, we had no plans nor even a return ticket."
"We had embarked on this unscripted adventure in the hopes of channeling the halcyon days of our first visit to the country, a free-wheeling backpacking trip more than 10 years ago. It was a way, we figured, to instill our son with a similar thirst for adventure."
"In late 2021 a Chinese-built railway began crossing the country from Vientiane, the capital, north into China, traveling at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour and cutting down trips that, before, had taken me a full day to a kid-friendlier hour or two."
A family of three—parents and their five-year-old son—deliberately chose an unconventional route to travel from Bangkok to Laos by overnight train rather than flying. They crossed the Mekong River into Laos by railway carriage with minimal planning, carrying only a single hotel reservation in Luang Prabang. This decision aimed to recapture the spontaneous adventure of their earlier backpacking trip to Laos over a decade prior and instill similar wanderlust in their child. The country itself had transformed significantly, with a new Chinese-built railway now connecting Vientiane to China, dramatically reducing travel times from full days to just hours. The family's journey reflects a deliberate choice to embrace unpredictability and adventure over convenience.
Read at Conde Nast Traveler
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